Break­out

Thurs­day, 8.30pm, National Ge­o­graphic Just as Banged Up Abroad dra­mat­i­cally retold sto­ries about peo­ple get­ting into pris­ons, Break­out makes a meal of peo­ple break­ing out. In­ter­views with the orig­i­nal es­capees form a nar­ra­tive spine while big-bud­get re-en­act­ments with clever looka­like ac­tors bring the sto­ries to life. This sec­ond sea­son episode is about Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two ac­tivists in South Africa who cam­paigned to bring down their coun­try’s op­pres­sive apartheid govern­ment in the mid-1970s. Jailed as ter­ror­ists for their ef­forts, Jenkin and Lee the were given 12 and eight-year sen­tences re­spec­tively. Their ar­rest at gun­point is dra­matic enough. Their es­cape will have you on the edge of your seat.